Saturday 24th October
We were fortunate not to experience the extreme winds associated with Storm Austen on Friday as its centre was some distance away in the English Channel, however, it was very windy with a peak gust of 32 mph recorded at 12.46. The rainfall was modest with 8.9m that took monthly total above average to 94.9mm. The maximum of 11.3C was restricted due to the cloud and wind, being 3.6C below average. As the sky cleared in the evening the temperature began to drop away reaching a low of 5.8 at 05.58 early Saturday. The back track of the radar showed a bank of cloud arriving from the west just after 01.00, associated with Storm Boelo, that limited any further major drop in temperature.
Saturday arrived very dull with the cloud thickening from the west, the front edge could be seen just receding over the eastern horizon after dawn. Storm Boelo is bearing down on Scotland. Although the centre of the depression at 08.00 was exceeding low with a reading of 947mb, we are some distance from its centre, however, the strong winds will pick up as the morning progresses and heavy rain will arrive probably mid-morning.
The temperature today will be closer to the October average thanks to the run of southwesterlies, a much cooler direction off the Atlantic, than the northwesterly on Friday.
A flaccid short-lived ridge of higher pressure will edge in for Sunday that will be such a contrast so we can enjoy a dry and sunny day, but only for one day, as the next depression, deepening in the Atlantic, is aiming for the UK that will result in a wet, breezy and cool day on Monday. Whether this new system will be strong enough to be named remains uncertain.
There is optimism for the rest of next week to enjoy much drier, sunnier autumnal weather as the forecast pressure charts indicate that the Azores high will push back across the country due to the jet stream arching over the UK.
How unusual were Storm Austen’s strongest winds?
Although Storm Austen produced disruptive winds, they remained well below the highest October gusts recorded in the UK. The peak gust from Storm Austen was 76mph across the Isles of Scilly and 75mph across the Isle of Portland.
The highest October gust listed in existing records is 124mph at Rhoose, in the Vale of Glamorgan, on 28 October 1989. Other notable October observations include 115mph at Shoreham in West Sussex on 16 October 1987 and 106mph at Salsburgh in Lanarkshire on 18 October 1984.
There is also local context at Needles Old Battery. The site recorded 75mph during Storm Austen but holds England’s all-time maximum gust record of 122mph, set during Storm Eunice on 18 February 2022.
The wider UK records underline how exceptional the most extreme wind events can be. The record for Scotland and the UK as whole is 142mph at Fraserburgh in Aberdeenshire on 13 February 1989. The Northern Ireland record is 124mph at Kilkeel in County Down, while the Welsh record is the 124mph gust measured at Rhoose in October 1989.